Will MTL plastic wheels fit in Kato passenger cars?

[Paradise275]

Hi
If I wanted to de-electrify Kato passenger cars, can I use Micro Train plastic wheels instead?
I want to run long trains through auto reversers and, even if I don't put lights in my Kato coaches, the end car still has a light causing problems. We can't extend the length of the auto reverser.

Rick

[Sokramiketes]

No, different axle lengths. 

You should be able to pop out the lighting module in that car, all the components just snap in.

[Paradise275]

Thanks Mike.

[nsbob]

If you want to replace the wheels, Con Cor wheels are the same length as Kato (.563).  I did the opposite, I replaced the plastic Con Cor wheels in some Con Cor trucks with Kato wheels and they roll freely.

[SP-Wolf]

Couple of other options is to file down the contacts on the trucks. Or- remove the contact strip that runs the length of the car.

Just a thought,
Wolf

[peteski]

Kato wheels look very good and roll so nicely....
removing the contact strips should do the trick.  The short distance conductivity across the trucks themselves should not be problematic.

But on a properly designed and wired layout metal wheels and conductivity across the car should not cause any problems.  Reversing sections should ideally be longer than any electrically active train going through them.

[Sokramiketes]

Depending on which Kato cars they are, removing the pickup strips will defeat the suspension component of the sprung pickups, and affect the tracking and car height.

Snapping out the lighting module should still be the easiest method!

[peteski]

Snapping out the lighting module should still be the easiest method!

The strips will short between the same-side rails of the front and rear trucks when the car sits across 2 electrical blocks (with or without the lighting module installed). Friend of mine once melted a passenger car (on DC power) when that Kato passenger car spanned 2 reverse-polarity blocks.

But you do have a point about the strips also being a component of the car's suspension (but not on all Kato models).  In that case just split each strips into 2 pieces.